Secrets and Truths
by CSIfreak89
Summary: COMPLETE!Grissom and Sara investigate the dissapearance of a 9 year old girl, who Sara finds herself relating to. GS eventually i promise. Spoilers for Nesting Dolls. Read and Review!
1. missing

**A/N: hey. This is my first attempt at a fic with a case so please review and tell me what I should fix or where you think the story should go. Help me, but be nice at the same time. Thanks. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (tear)**

Grissom walked into the break room before shift, only to find everybody waiting for him. They all glanced up at him.

"Hey guys. Busy night tonight: Sara, you're with me. Catherine, Nick and Warrick, you've got two DB's at the sphere." he said, handing Catherine a file folder. Everybody but Sara left the room to get to work.

"What's the case?" Sara asked, curiously.

"Missing 9 year old, only been missing for a couple hours but we have an apparent crime scene." He looked down at the file in his hands, "Name's Chelsea Claremont. Ready?"

"Yeh, just let me grab my kit."

They arrived to the Claremont residence a half an hour later. A medium sized, one story white house with a sidewalk to the front porch lined with flowers, it looked peaceful. But looks can be deceiving.

A uniformed police officer lead them to the little girl's bedroom, in which a struggle had clearly taken place. A pink lamp lay broken on the floor near the bed, a shelf full of stuffed animals was tipped over, and the left side of a pink curtain was ripped off all the clips except the last one.

"You seeing it too?" Grissom asked after a minute of silent observation from the two of them.

"She's on the bed, playing with her dolls. Somebody enters through her bedroom door, tries to grab her, but she's stronger than he planned. The lamp goes, and sometime before her gets her out the window so does the book shelf."

"And the curtain." Grissom said pointing.

"Probably done trying to open the window and control the girl at the same time, or she ripped it trying to hold on." Sara thought about it, "most likely the latter."

"If he came in through the bedroom door how'd he get in the house?" He wondered out loud.

"I was thinking the same thing, but he had to have come in that way because this type of window can't be opened from the outside and it wasn't broken. It's not hot enough to have to windows open."

They finished processing the room and other areas of the house and perimeter they thought important, then headed back to HQ to speak with the parents.

The couple was already waiting with Brass by the time they got back.

"Mr. and Mrs. Claremont, this is Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, from the crime lab.

"Nice to meet you" Mr. Claremont said weakly. They were acknowledged with a nod from Mrs. Claremont. Sara and Grissom both took a seat and they began the interview.

"Mr. and Mrs. Claremont, where were you around the time of Chelsea's disappearance?"

"I was at work until 8:30." Mr. Claremont replied defensively. "Why are you questioning us?" His question went unanswered.

"I was home, doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, and," She paused, "watching Chelsea."

"Any idea who would have wanted to do this to your daughter?" Brass asked.

"She is only 9, who could possibly want to take her?" Mr. Claremont replied.

_I thought that was my question. Brass thought to himself._

The interview got them very little. Basically Chelsea and Mrs. Claremont had come home from Chelsea's dance class and Chelsea went to her room and her mother went about her work.

Grissom and Sara were headed to the layout room to look at things they had brought back from the house.

"A photo album, books, shoes…" Grissom made a note off all the random items that they had scattered in front of them. "A journal?" he asked as he picked up a purple hardcover book with a horse on the front.

"Sometimes people will write down things that they are to afraid to say out loud." Sara responded. _I wonder if Grissom has a journal. _The thought almost made her want to laugh, then she remembered the leather bound book she kept.

"We should read it." He said.

"I'll read it, you go check up on Brass."

_We just saw him25 minutes ago I doubt he has anything new. He thought, but went along with it, and walked out of the room._

**TBC (maybe- let me know if I should)**


	2. Dear Diary

**A/N: Thanks to people who reviewed. And to those who didnt - please do! **

**This chapter goes out to Liz (Cath!) hehe, hey look a butterfly! (made you look!)**

Sara pulled a chair up to the layout table. Gloves on, she flipped through to see how much the little girl had written in the diary. Onlyfour or five pages. She began on the first page.

_Dear Diary, I think (hope) is going to be a good day. Mom and Dad were still sleeping when I got my cereal. Mom says to stay quiet in the morning or Dad will get mad. I want to play but I cant. I wish I had a sister like Ally has. I hate weekends. _

Sara flipped the page, her stomach sinking as she read.

_Dear Diary- Dad got mad today, mom told me it wasn't my fault but I know it was. I shouldn't have tried to pour that juice. I can hear him yelling still. I have to do my spelling practice. _

_'Every family has its demons, some more so than others._' Sara thought as she flipped past a drawing of a sunset to the next entry.

_Dear diary, I forgot to write last week not a lot happened. Dad got mad at mom for somethingon Tuesday, I don't know why. I heard a glass break and mom screemed that it was one of Nanas glasses. I don't think Dad cared. I tried not to lisen to them fight._

_'How did we not see through these people?_' Sara thought to herself. She really didn't want toread on but forced herself to read the last entry.

_Dear Diary- School was fun today. Me and Ally and Jessi-Anne raced to the swings, I won and got the best swing. I came home and after dinner me and Mom were playing UNO. I love that game. I used to play with Nana all the time when she was alive. I miss her. Dad came home and he was already mad. I told Mom I had homework and went to my room. I already did all my homework. I heard yelling and pounding andmom and dadsaidalot ofbad words. All I want to do is sit on my bed with Belvadear, my bear and cry. _

Sara flashed back to her childhood. She could hear the yelling, feet pounding loudly on the hardwood floors of her kitchen, glass breaking, and her mom screaming. Suddenly she was back to the night her father was killed. She could almost smell the blood on the floor, pooled beneath her dad's lifeless body, cast off on the walls and on a painting of the ocean.

Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was unaware of Grissom entering the room.

"Hey Sara, Brass-" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw her quivering form hunched over, head on the table surrounded by her crossed arms. "Hey?" he walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder and pulled up a chair. "What's wrong?"

She said nothing and simply slid the open diary over to him. He carefully read the last entry.

"Oh." he said, remembering her pouring her story out to him a few months ago.

Sara lifted her head up, but didn't look over at him. "She has nobody Grissom, we need to find her." She managed shakily.

"I know, Sar, I know." he said. She turned to look at him, cheeks stained with tears.

"Shift's over, let's get you home." She didn't argue when Grissom placed his hand around her arm to steady her. She wiped her face and took a deep breath.

"Let's go." she said.


	3. Progress

**A/N: One more day of school! I'm so happy. Anyway, on with the story. Hope you like this chapter, and as always, review. **

"I don't get it Grissom," Sara started when they got into his car, she was in no mood to drive, "how can two people hate each other so much that they are completely ignorant to the affect it has on their own child?"

"I don't think it's about hate towards each other. The other aspects of life fall apart and they don't, or can't resolve that, so they take it out on each other."

"Maybe." She stared out the car window, her face blank.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. He pulled up to her apartment building and got out to walk her up.

"You going to be okay?" He asked her once they reached her door.

"Yeh, I'm fine," she said. "Oh, will you pick me up before shift tonight, seeing how I don't have my car?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Goodnight Grissom." Sara said as she opened the door.

"Get some sleep Sara." Grissom said. Knowing Sara she'd only get a few hours of sleep tonight.

They said their goodbyes and Grissom walked back to his car slowly, not wanting to leave her. He climbed in and drove home.

He arrived early, knowing she'd probably been ready long ago. She was ready, of course.

Realizing he'd never told her what he had found out from Brass last night he said, "Oh, Brass has a list of friends and relatives he's interviewing today that he said 'may have something to say'."

"We should talk to the parents again"

"Yeh." He said pulling into HQ.

Brass was already waiting for them. "Hey." he said. Sara and Grissom informed him of everything they had found out yesterday. "Okay, I'll set up another interview."

"We still have stuff to work on from the things we brought back from the house, but I want to be in on the parents interview." Grissom said.

"Alright, I'll page you." Brass said, and they all split up to tackle their work.

Grissom checked on the fingerprints he had left with Jacqui last night. They had lifted several from the room and few from the doorknob and window.

"Anything?" he asked Jacqui.

"As a matter of fact, there is something that stands out to me." She said, wheeling her chair over to another section of her office. "This is puzzling, a thumbprint from the window matches a Julie Claremont."

"Interesting." Grissom said. "Maybe it's as simple as she was at their house and opened the girl's window for her."

"Possible." she said. "I also identified a print from the garage door handle as hers, and it has to be recent because the print would have been covered by many others that used the door handle if it was older, and this print was on top."

"Did it say why she was in the database?"

"Uh," She said reading a printout, "She was in the navy, got out in '97."

"Thanks." Grissom said.

Sara was still sorting through the odds and ends they had collected from the house when Grissom returned.

"Any progress?" he asked.

"Yeh," She replied without looking up, "Well, maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"Okay, this lamp. It's not very damaged, but it is really delicate, sort of porcelain like. I don't understand why it is not broken more if it was knocked down in a struggle. But maybe the nightstand got bumped and knocked it over." She sighed.

Grissom pondered that a moment and went on to tell her about the fingerprints they found that belonged to Julie Claremont.

When he was done Sara raised her eyebrows and said, "We should talk to her."

Before Grissom could respond his beeper went off. "Brass" he said, "You coming? We're interviewing the parents again."

"Um, yes." She decided.

They all took seats around the steel table, the Claremont's seated on one side and Sara, Grissom and Brass scattered around the rest of the table.

"Why are we here?" Mr. Claremont asked, clearly agitated.

"In case you forgot, your daughter's missing." Brass stated the obvious. "We need to ask you a few more things." without waiting he said, "Are you two completely oblivious to your daughter, or do you just not care what you put her through?"

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Claremont said.

"Your fighting. We read her diary." Brass informed them.

"That has nothing to do with her." Mr. Claremont said defensively.

"Maybe not." Sara chimed in, "but she hears it and believe me, it affects her." She stared at him, almost daring him to disagree. He didn't say a thing.

Knowing they weren't going to get anything out of them on that topic Bras said, "Who is Julie Claremont?"

"She's my sister, why? What does she have to do with any of this?" Mr. Claremont said.

Skipping over his questions Brass asked, "Does Chelsea communicate with Julie often?"

"God no. We don't speak to her." Something in his voice gave Grissom the idea that Julie had done something in the past to piss Mr. Claremont off.

"Interesting." Brass said, thinking out loud.

"Are we done here? We have places to be." Mrs. Claremont said.

"Yes, we are." Brass said, escorting them out, leaving Grissom and Sara in the interrogation room.

"I think we really hit something with this Julie person, we should find out where she is." Sara said.

"I agree. Maybe she knew about the fighting and tried to get Chelsea away from it. Or she took her as a way to get back at the Claremont's." He said.

"Either way, we should find her."

**TBC**


	4. Found

The database didn't list a current address for Julie Claremont but it did list a P.O. box, so Grissom and Sara were headed out there now with the warrant Brass had gotten for them.

"This probably won't give us much you know."

"You never know." His stomach growled, reminding him that it was time to eat something. "You hungry?"

"Yeh, a little"

"Let's grab something," he said swerving into the drive-through of a fast food place.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Sara smiled at his momentary crazy driving.

After ordering Grissom drove off and parked in a small park.

"Uh, do we even have time for this?" Sara asked.

"Eat quickly," he said walking over to a bench under a big oak tree.

Sara sat down first, propping her legs up on the bench, leaving little room for Grissom.

"Sara?" he said, pointing to the bench.

"Yeh?" She said innocently, looking down at her food and taking another bite.

_Fine _he thought He scooped her legs up with his free hand, sat down and dropped them on his lap. To his surprise she didn't move.

She couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Comfy?" He just rose an eyebrow at her and ate, with her legs stretched over his lap.

Within 15 minutes they were back on the road again. When they arrived they asked the post office attendant for the spare key to box 197, Julie's box.

"Why?" the scrawny teen asked.

Rolling her eyes Sara unfolded the warrant and placed it on the counter for the boy to read. He seemed intimidated and got the key.

"Down the hallway, first row to the right." The attendant said, pointing.

There was a fair amount of mail in the small box.

"Let's bag it" Sara said and got out an evidence bag, holding it open for Grissom to put all the letters inside.

"That's all here, right." Sara asked

"Unless you have to check your mail, yes."

"This isn't where my mail goes." She pointed out.

When they reached the lab Sara unsealed the bag and began sorting the mail. "bill…bill…personal…junk…" She muttered as she classified each piece.

She stopped when she noticed Grissom standing in the doorway, doing nothing. "You going to help or what?"

He snapped on a pair of gloves and said, "Oh, yeh."

When they finished sorting Sara went after the personal letters first, handing one to Grissom as well.

Sara was surprised to find that the letter was from Mrs. Claremont. _Thought they didn't communicate. _

The letter said:

_Julie,_

_Mark has been getting worse. I'm starting to see why you called the cops on him, I'm really sorry for that day. I'm still worried about Chelsea, I dont know what to do anymore. What if he goes after her again?_

_Sorry it took me so long to get back to you but it's really hard to get things done with Mark always into my things. _

_Love always, Sasha_

"What's yours say Grissom?" She asked when she finished reading the letter.

"I think I know where she is." He said, not looking up.

"I think Chelsea's with her."

"This letter's from Julie's mother. She's talking about when Julie's coming to visit. She's probably there."

"Return address?"

"He picked up the envelope and flipped it over to the front. He read '130 Sunset Drive.'"

"Lets grab Brass an head out there." Sara said. They left the room after putting all the mail back into the bag.

45 minutes later Grissom and Sara stopped in front of 130 Sunset Drive, Brass pulling up behind them. It was a modest two story yellow house with plentiful green bushes in front, and dried up grass for a lawn.

They all walked up to the front door and Sara rang the bell. To their surprise a small brunette with big brown eyes and a wide grin opened the door.

"Are you Chelsea?" The girl nodded. Sara almost regretted finding the girl. She looked so happy, how could they send her back to the hellhole called home?

"Are you police?" Chelsea asked. She seemed un-fazed about the idea of the police knocking on the door.

"Yes. Sweetie, do you know where your aunt Julie is?" Sara asked.

"She's in the kitchen. We're having pancakes." The girl said with a wide smile. Sara wondered if the girl ever got a good homemade breakfast at home. _Probably not._ She thought knowingly.

"Can we talk to her?"

"Umm… I guess." She shrugged and led them into a small but not cramped kitchen to find a pretty 40-something blonde flipping pancakes on the stove and an elderly woman at the table, hair in curlers, reading the newspaper. Sara figured that must have been Chelsea's other grandmother.

Sara hated this _How can we take her away from the two people that clearly care about her more than her own parents do._ She thought. She could tell by the atmosphere and Chelsea's smile that she belonged here. Or at least with these two raising her.

"Julie Claremont?" Brass asked the woman at the stove.

"Yeh." She sighed when she turned around to see the detective and the two others standing in the kitchen. "I guess we should talk, huh?"

"Oh, yeh." Brass said.

Julie walked them over to the table and sat down.

"Hey ma, watch the stove for me?" She said to the elderly lady, who nodded and got up.

"Where do you want me to start?" Julie said with a sigh.

"The beginning would be nice." Brass said with a wry smile.

"As you might know Sasha and Mark fight. A lot. Like you wouldn't believe. I was on camping trip a while back and they came up to visit with Chelsea one day. He blew up atSasha for no reason. She threw a softball at his head and the yelling began. Chels just walked into the tent. I will never forget her face, like she had grown to expect these things to happen. All she wanted to do was sit there." Julie shook her head. "Then Sasha started writing to me. She was lost, didn't know what to do. Of course she played a partin all this too, would never admit it though. Mark started going after Chelsea and Sasha just lost it. I had to do something. I think you can fill in the rest."

Grissom nodded. "But why trash the room?"

"Mark. I knew he would know if it didn't look like she was kidnapped. So I tipped a few things over."

"You know she's going to have to go back, right. Child Protection Services can start an investigation from here buther parentsstill have rights over her." Grissom said empathetically. "They can also press charges against you."

"Sasha wouldn't." Her eyes sunk to the table. "I don't want her to go back there."

Nobody said a word.

"We'll have her parents informed, and send somebody by later to pick her up." Brass said. The girl deserved to eat in peace without the police hovering around. "Just don't go anywhere," he warned.

"We won't." Julie promised.

**A/N: One more (short)chapter left of the story. Please review! **


	5. Aftermath

**A/N: Okay here goes the last chapter. Thanks to Liz for helping me out. **

The next day Grissom walked into the break room right before the end of shift. He found Sara sitting at the table, absently staring out the window. He had been worried about her ever since she had read the girl's diary, but he hadn't had the time to talk to her. Not that he knew what to say anyway. '_When do you know what to say to her?'_ he asked himself. Rolling his eyes at the thought he pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"Got a penny?" she continued staring out the window.

"No. I'll owe you one"

"I was just thinking. About Chelsea." She paused. "I used to be her, Grissom. I just don't want her life to turn out as messed up as mine." She turned to look him in the eyes.

"Do you honestly think things have turned out that badly for you?" It hadn't occurred to Grissom how much her past affected her now.

She lowered her head into her hands. "You don't get it, do you? All I have is my job. No family, no friends, just this job. Sometimes it's just not enough."

"It shouldn't have to be enough Sara." he said sympathetically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You need somebody." _'Yeh. Somebody like me'_ he thought.

She started to speak but was interrupted by Brass entering the room. "I just wanted to let you know that Chelsea's back with her parents, but probably not for long. CPS opened a case."

"Alright." Grissom said and Brass left the room. He turned his attention back to Sara.

"I've got to go." She said, and quickly got up and left the room.

"Sara…" he called after her. It was no use, she was gone.

Grissom sighed. He didn't know what to do. Should he go after her or let her work things out by herself?

He slowly pushed himself off the chair and followed her out of the building. He caught up with her and put a hand on her shoulder to turn her around.

"What?" she said, clenching her jaw.

"I…I'm just worried, okay?"

"Why do you care Grissom? Why does any of this make a difference to you?" she felt her body tense up, she really didn't want to have this conversation with him right now.

"I don't want you to feel like the only reason you wake up in the morning," he shook his head and corrected himself, "evening, is to work."

She was speechless. _'Is he implying something or is he just trying to tell me that I need 'diversions' again?' _she thought. She just couldn't figure him out, he was like a jigsaw puzzle where none of the pieces fit together.

"Look," she said. "I really have to be somewhere." she spun on her heels and walked away. "Well, you had your chance" she muttered, frustrated.

He stared to go after her, but stopped. _'I'm sorry Sara. You have no idea how much I wish we could make this work' _he thought and stared at the sun coming up over the building.

**THE END! How'd ya like it?**


End file.
